Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) has been named one of “100 Most Influential Georgians” by Georgia Trend magazine in its January edition. Again.

No, really.

To get a handle on Gonzalez’s “influence” and style, it should be pointed out that pro-enforcement denizens of the Georgia Capitol are forever grateful to “Angry Jerry” for his relentless race-baiting on the crime of illegal immigration, his well-known fuming, disrespectful rants during testimony in Gold Dome committees against Georgia’s illegal immigration enforcement bills over the years and his willingness to personify the radical left on the issue in general.

He served as an ideal educational example for legislators unfamiliar with the illegal alien lobby.

And there is this little gem: “Influential” Gonzalez was recently removed from a Rome, Georgia panel discussion on the subject of Georgia’s recent illegal immigration law, HB 87, hiring legal labor and use of E-Verify because the organization he heads and members of the GALEO Board of Directors are part of a pending ACLU lawsuit seeking to halt enforcement of parts of the law. Apparently the organizers saw a conflict.

Determined to get the anti-enforcement side injected into the event, Gonzalez drove from Atlanta to the Rome event anyway and was soon ejected and removed by local police from the property for screaming at a member of the panel, Georgia state Representative Katie Dempsey. The diminutive and well-liked Dempsey was a co-sponsor of HB 87 and a staunch supporter of E-Verify.

The Rome News Tribune covered the event and reported on Gonzalez’s antics HERE.

Part of the explanation from glossy Georgia Trend on how “influence” is defined:

“..Individuals on the list - some who are very much in the public eye and some who choose to work behind the scenes - are selected for the power and influence they wield. These are the people who affect the lives and livelihood of all Georgians in one way or another…”

Syracuse, N.Y. — Case-by-case records provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that many fewer individuals were apprehended, deported or detained by the agency than were claimed in its official statements — congressional testimony, press releases, and the agency's latest 2010 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

The ICE data was provided to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University in late December, almost two years — 582 days — after TRAC had requested it on May 17, 2010.

Details about the vast differences between the agency activities documented by the data and its public statements are laid out in a FOIA appeal filed by TRAC on January 4. The surprising size of the discrepancies, the TRAC appeal said, indicated that either "ICE has been making highly exaggerated and inaccurate claims about the level of its enforcement activities," or it is "withholding on a massive scale."

TRAC's appeal emphasized that this was not an inconsequential bookkeeping problem, noting "that the alleged failure of the federal government to enforce the immigration laws has been a hotly debated topic during both the Bush and Obama administrations."

"Thus, the agency's apparent inability to substantiate the level of its claimed enforcement activities is a very significant matter," the appeal continued. "Indeed it is central to the current public debate on federal enforcement policy in the ongoing presidential election campaign."

TRAC requested a formal agency investigation of the matter or that it be referred to the Office of Inspector General.

Dorothy K Smyrna

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January 05, 2012

I keep waiting to see a post by the token Lib, Kevin (spacey) Foley accusing King of seeing an imaginary "liberal conspiricy" here.

What a doodle he is.

Ga Trend: Editor is BFF with Jerry's puppetmaster, Sam Zamarripa.

Jonathan Rich

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January 05, 2012

The MDJ is to be praised for being a brave voice of truth on the immigration issue and getting the facts out. King is one of the most eductaed people in the nationon this and this Gonzalez character is far worse than is portrayed here. There is much more that people should know about him.

I hope King keeps up the education. As for Ga Trend, they are a collective that has martinis with the people they are paid with ad space to give awards to. Great blog here! THANK YOU!

Maria L

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January 04, 2012

I read Phil Kent's guest column in the Ga Trend rag - it is the only good thing in the rag that honors ...(ich) Jerry Gonzalez.

You can read it online for free.

RobbieN

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January 04, 2012

"These are the people who affect the lives and livelihood of all Georgians in one way or another."

Trend must have gone with "another".

Pat H

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January 04, 2012

Jerry Gonzalez is yet another race baiter in a long line of jobless baiters.

Kathleen3

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January 04, 2012

Just further proof there is no longer a working media; rather, pool stenographers for George Soros.

Gonzalez is in the same category as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for those we are led to believe are people we should admire. Publications such as The Trend exist so as to enhance the credibility of those they are paid to endorse, not those who are worthy of endorsement.

Randi Gomez

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January 04, 2012

Holy cow! Yet another reason not to buy Ga Trend...they always seem to be against immigration logic.

King does a great job on educating and entertaining us! Gonzalez is a socialist nut!

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